The Princess and the Frog
The Princess and the Frog 'is a 2009 American animated musical romantic fantasy comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 49th Disney animated feature film, the film is loosely based on the novel The Frog Princess by E. D. Baker, which is in turn based on the Brothers Grimm fairytale "The Frog Prince". Written and directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, the film features an ensemble voice cast that stars Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos, Keith David, Michael-Leon Wooley and John Goodman. Set in 1920s New Orleans, Louisiana, the film tells the story of a hardworking waitress named Tiana who dreams of owning her own restaurant. After kissing a prince who has been turned into a frog by an evil witch doctor, Tiana becomes a frog herself and must find a way to turn back into a human before it is too late. The Princess and the Frog began production under the working title The Frog Princess. It marked Disney's return to traditional animation, as it was the studio's first traditionally animated film since Home on the Range (2004). Co-directors Ron Clements and John Musker, directors of Disney's highly successful films The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, returned to Disney to direct The Princess and the Frog. The studio returned to a Broadway musical-style format frequently used during the Disney Renaissance, and features music written by composer Randy Newman, well known for his musical involvement in Pixar films such as A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc., Cars and the Toy Story trilogy. The film also marked the return of Disney animated musical films based on well-known stories since the Disney Renaissance. The Princess and the Frog opened in limited release in New York and Los Angeles on November 25, 2009, and in wide release on December 11, 2009. The film was successful at the box-office, ranking first place on its opening weekend in North America, and grossing £267 million worldwide. It received three Academy Award nominations at the 82nd Academy Awards, one for Best Animated Feature and two for its achievement in music (Original Song and Original Score). It lost to Up and Crazy Heart, respectively. Some film critics and pundits regard The Princess and the Frog as a turning point for Walt Disney Animation Studios, and to have ignited the "Disney Revival", playing a crucial role in the studio's subsequent string of acclaimed animated films. Plot The movie opens with a bright star shining in the Louisiana sky. We hear the voice of Tiana singing, telling us that anything is possible if you wish upon the evening star. We are then taken to the very pink and frilly bedroom of young Charlotte La Bouff, who is sitting beside a young Tiana as they listen to Tiana's seamstress mother, Eudora tells the story of the Frog Prince as she puts the finishing touches on a dress for Charlotte. Charlotte is entranced by the story while Tiana is clearly disgusted and vows never to kiss a frog. Charlotte then puts a frog mask on White Kitten and starts pushing it in Tiana's face. But when Charlotte starts kissing White Kitten, it jumps up and gets stuck on the ceiling. Eudora then gets it off the ceiling and takes the mask off the horrified White Kitten. Charlotte's father, "Big Daddy" La Bouff arrives home with a new puppy for his spoiled daughter while Eudora and Tiana head home. We quickly learn that Tiana and her friend Charlotte are definitely from two different worlds as the young girl and her mother head home to their tiny shack where Tiana's father, James, waits for them. Tiana and her father laugh together as they whip up a batch of his famous gumbo and talk about their shared dream of one day opening a restaurant. Little Tiana makes a wish on the evening star that their dream will one day come true. Tiana's father reminds her that wishing can only take you so far and you have to get the rest of the way yourself through hard work. He makes her promise that she'll never lose sight of what's really important in life. We then flash forward several years. Tiana is now a beautiful young woman, working two waitressing jobs and saving up all her tips in a bedroom drawer, hoping to earn enough money to open the restaurant she and her father had always dreamed of. Before heading off to her second job, she plants a quick kiss on a photo of her father (it is implied that he was killed in WWI), telling him that they're "almost there". As Tiana heads off to work, we get a quick glimpse of the hustle and bustle of New Orleans as it was in the 1920s, full of life and culture (the newspaper seen when Naveen gets off the boat says April 1926). It soon becomes apparent, however, that Tiana is much too focused on her job to really take part in any of it. She's seen turning down invitations to social events from her friends in favour of working extra shifts. It's clear that she's a determined and hard-working young woman. While waiting tables, Charlotte arrives with exciting news, Prince Naveen from the far away country of Maldonia has arrived in New Orleans for Mardi Gras. He will be staying with the Le Bouffs, and "Big Daddy" hopes that Naveen and Charlotte will hit it off so the two can wed. Charlotte is thrilled at the thought of marrying a Prince and pays Tiana an immense quanitity of money to whip up some "man-catching beignets" for the Prince's welcome party in order to impress him. After accepting the payment, Tiana finally has enough money for a down-payment on the run-down factory she plans on turning into her restaurant. Meanwhile, Prince Naveen and his butler, Lawrence arrive in New Orleans. It's clear that Naveen is entranced by the New Orleans music and culture (and women). He definitely lives a playboy lifestyle. We quickly learn that, though he is royalty, Naveen's parents have cut him off financially and that his only choice is to marry a rich woman or get a job. Of course, Naveen would never dream of lifting a finger himself and instead hopes to marry Charlotte and inherit some of her fortunes. As Naveen and Lawrence wander the streets, they run into the shady Dr. Facilier, who invites them to his voodoo shop, where they learn about his powers and his "friends on the other side". Jealous of the La Bouff fortune, Facilier takes advance of the Prince's gullibility and Lawrence's resentment of his master to help in his plot to take over New Orleans. He turns Naveen into a frog and, using a magical talisman, turns Lawrence into an exact copy of Prince Naveen. The plan is for Lawrence (as Naveen) to marry Charlotte, get her money, and share it with Facilier (who plans on killing Charlotte's father and using his fortune to control the city). That night, at the Masquerade party, "Naveen" arrives and immediately sweeps Charlotte off her feet. She is clearly enraptured by the idea of marrying a prince. Meanwhile, Tiana learns that someone has outbid her on the old building. If she can't get the money in three days, she'll lose any hope of achieving her and her father's dream. Feeling hopeless, Tiana goes out onto the balcony and makes another wish upon the evening star. It is here, under the stars, that she runs into a talking frog, who turns out to be the real Prince Naveen. Naveen mistakes her for a princess (due to her masquerade costume) and tells her that, if she kisses him, he will turn back into a human and give anything she wants in return. Thinking of her beloved restaurant, Tiana reluctantly kisses Naveen, only to have the spell backfire. She's become a frog herself. Furious, she and Naveen begin to argue when they fall off the balcony and down into the party. Chaos ensues as they are chased away into the Bayou by Charlotte's dog and several disgruntled party guests. Tiana and Naveen have a rough first night as frogs, as they are nearly killed by a group of alligators and forced into hiding in an old tree trunk (arguing the entire time, of course). Her hardworking, no-nonsense personality and his lazy and carefree nature do not mesh well. The next day, Tiana builds a tiny raft, telling Naveen that they're going to go back to New Orleans, track down Dr. Facilier, and get the spell reversed. On the way, they run into another enormous gator. At first they fear he will eat them, but soon learn that Louis is a gentle giant who loves jazz music and dreams of playing the trumpet in a jazz band, but it's never worked out for him (cue hysterical flashback of Louis jumping onto a paddle boat and joining in the band before being screamed and shot at by the terrified humans). When they explain their situation to Louis, he tells them they should go visit Mama Odie, the voodoo queen of the bayou. At first, he's reluctant to show them the way, but Naveen cleverly convinces him to come, implying that Mama Odie may be able to turn Louis human and help his dreams come true. As they journey through the bayou, the three meet up with Ray, a Cajun firefly, who helps save Naveen and Tiana when they are captured by a group of hillbillies looking for a frog-leg dinner. As they eat some "swamp gumbo" whipped up by Tiana and celebrate their escape from the humans, Ray reveals that he is in love with a beautiful firefly named Evangeline, who shines brightly in the sky every night. The others quickly realise that Evangeline is actually not a firefly at all, but is really the "evening star" that shines in the sky. None of them have the heart to tell Ray the truth as he sings a beautiful love song for his Evangeline. As Ray serenades the star, Naveen asks Tiana to dance and it quickly becomes clear that the two are falling for one another. Back in New Orleans, the Imposter Naveen (Lawrence) has finally proposed to Charlotte, who is positively delighted. She proclaims that the two will be married that night at the big Mardi Gras parade and runs off the make wedding plans. While she is gone, the spell that makes Lawrence look like Naveen begins to wear off. Facilier explains that the magic talisman is out of Naveen's blood. They need to bring him back and get more of his blood for the spell to keep working. Facilier has no choice but to call on his "friends on the other side" (who, it turns out, are shadow demons). He sends them out into the bayou to find Naveen and bring him back alive. Early that morning, back in the bayou, Naveen, Tiana, Ray and Louis finally find the very old and very blind Mama Odie. Though she seems to be somewhat senile at first, she gives them all good advice, they must "dig a little deeper" to find out what's really important. They explain that they want to be human again, but she insists that it's not what they want, it's what they need that matters. Naveen sees that what he needs is to be with Tiana. Tiana, on the other hand, is too blinded by her desire to live out her dream to see that there is something more important right in front of her. Mama Odie explains that the only way for the two of them to become human again is for Naveen to kiss a princess. They quickly realise that this means Charlotte (whose father had been crowned as King of Mardi Gras, making her the "princess"). The plan is for Naveen to kiss Charlotte before midnight (when she is no longer a princess), marry her, and buy Tiana her restaurant, just as he promised her when she first gave him a kiss. Thanking Mama Odie profusely, the four friends head out to the river to find their way back to New Orleans. They hitch a ride aboard a paddle boat (everyone thinks Louis is wearing a very realistic alligator costume for Mardi Gras and invite him to join the band) and Naveen quickly confides in Ray his plan to propose to Tiana that very night, before the Mardi Gras parade. He proudly proclaims that he'll give up his lazy lifestyle and get "two jobs, maybe three" to help keep his promise to Tiana and get her restaurant. He sets up a beautiful candle-lit dinner (one really big candle, since they're still frog-sized) and makes several feeble attempts to express his feelings for her, but is clearly nervous and flustered. Before he can get the words out, the boat passes the old factory Tiana plans to turn into her restautant, distracting her. She starts talking once again about her dream, and Naveen feels that she really cares more about her restaurant than about him. He knows that he will never be able to give her the money for her restaurant unless he marries Charlotte, so he gives up his plan to propose and instead sets his mind on getting back to Charlotte so he can help make Tiana's dream come true. Before they arrive in New Orleans, Naveen is captured by Facilier's voodoo "friends", unbeknownst to his companions. After he is gone, when they finally arrive at Mardi Gras, Ray reveals to Tiana that Naveen truly loves her and was planning on proposing. Tiana realises that this is what she truly wants as well and rushes off into the crowd to find him. When she reaches the parade, however, she sees Charlotte standing beside the fake Naveen (wearing the newly-replenished talisman), preparing to marry him. Tiana misunderstands, thinking he has already kissed her and become human, and runs off the graveyard, alone. Ray follows her and tries to console her, but Tiana angrily replies by telling Ray that Evangeline is just a star, millions of miles away from him and that he needs to open his eyes to the truth before he gets hurt like she did. Still not convinced, Ray rushes back to the parade and frees frog-Naveen, who stops the wedding by jumping onto the imposter and knocking him off the float. Lawrence loses the talisman and is returned to his true form. Now that he has been revealed as a fraud, the bumbling Lawrence is quickly carted away by the police. Realising its significance, Ray steals the voodoo talisman and flies away with it. Furious, Facilier chases Ray all the way to the graveyard. Ray finally meets up with Tiana and gives her the talisman, making her promise to keep it out of Facilier's possession. She hops away with it, while Ray stays behind to destroy as many shadows as possible. With his light, he kills a few of them. Facilier knocks Ray to the ground and coldly crushes him without a second thought before wearing a disgusted expression and casually walks off. A few seconds later, Louis comes running, calling for Ray, but finds the firefly lying on the ground and makes off for Tiana. The shadows and Facilier continue chasing Tiana before finally cornering her, but when she threatens to break the talisman into a million pieces, the Shadow Man casts an enchantment on her, causing her to look human again, and changes the setting, to her dream restaurant with Facilier offering to make her a deal. She thinks she sees Naveen playign the ukelele in the corner of the room, but when the man turns around, she sees it isn't and is disappointed. Facilier meanwhile, tries to convince Tia to have over the artifact, promising the restaurant and becoming a human again. When she refuses to, he brings up memories of her sacrifices and people doubting her abilities, and finally her father working hard but failing to get anough money for a restaurant. He tells her that if she gives him the talisman, he'll turn her back into a human and he'll give her everything she's ever dreamed of, everything she and her father always wanted. She hesitates a moment, but her eyes light up in realisation. Tiana explains that, while it's true her father never got everything he wanted, he had what he needed, love. And that's what she needs too. Tiana throws the talisman to the ground, but it's snatched up by Facilier's shadow and the illusion immediately disappears. Facilier cackles and tells her that she should have taken his deal, but using her tongue, Tia takes the talisman back and shattering it into pieces. This greatly angers the voodoo spirits, who come out of the talisman. The Shadow Man is horrified, and frets how he won't be able to pay back his debt. Totem heads come out of the stone heads, asking if he's ready, which he replies that he isn't. Voodoo dolls climb out of the ground, and in terror, he says that he has lots more plans, revealing that he has the prince locked away, to Tiana's surprise. An enormous totem head drags in Facilier's shadow which in turn brings along the hysterical witch doctor himself, into the underworld to sacrifice his soul as punishment for his unpaid debts. Tiana rushes back to the parade, where she sees Naveen talking to Charlotte. He explains to Charlotte what has happened and that, if she kisses him by midnight (which is mere minutes away), he will become human again and he will marry her. Naveen's only condition is that Charlotte promises to give Tiana the money she needs for her restaurant. "She is my Evangeline," he explains. Deeply touched, Tiana hops out of the shadows and confesses her love for Naveen, telling him she'd rather be a frog forever and stay with him than have her restaurant without him. Naveen confesses that he loves her too and the two embrace. Charlotte is moved to tears that her friend is finally living out the fairytale she herself has always dreamed of, and agrees to kiss Naveen for Tiana, so they can both be human again and marry each other. She holds Naveen in her hand and leans in for the kiss, but it's too late. Midnight has come and, though she kisses him again and again, nothing happens. Charlotte is no longer a princess. Before anything else can be said, Louis rushes in, holding a dying Ray in his hand. They lay Ray on the ground, and Naveen and Tiana tearfully tell him that everything is alright and the two of them will be together, thanks, in part, to him. Ray gives a weak smile, saying that makes him happy, and it makes Evangeline happy too. His eyes close, his light flickers out, and he's gone. His three friends tearfully bring him back to the bayou for a funeral with the rest of his firefly family. As they place his tiny body in a leaf and push it out across the water, everyone starts to gasp and look up at the sky as a bright, white light shines down from above. Another star has appeared beside Evangeline, shining just as brightly. Everyone starts to cheer because they can see that Ray finally got his wish to be with Evangeline at last. The funeral then fades away to a celebration as the entire bayou gather together to see Mama Odie perform Naveen and Tiana's wedding ceremony. As she pronounces them "frog and wife", they share a kiss and they are turned back into humans. Mama Odie laughs as the two figure out that, in becoming Naveen's wife, Tiana became a princess. By kissing her, Naveen broke the spell. The two are back in New Orleans where they buy the old building back from the Real Estate agents with some help from Louis and work together, fixing it up and eventually turning it into "Tiana's Palace", a very successful, up-scale restaurant. We see Tiana and Naveen happily serving tables as Louis the gator entertains the guests onstage with his trumpet. Tiana and Naveen go up to the roof where they dance together and share a kiss beneath the stars. Tiana sings "dreams do come true in New Orleans!" as Ray and Evangeline continue to shine brightly together in the night sky as the movie ends. Cast *Anika Noni Rose as Tiana **Elizabeth Dampier as Young Tiana *Bruno Campos as Prince Naveen *Jennifer Cody as Charlotte "Lottie" La Bouff **Breanna Brooks as Young Charlotte *Keith David as Dr. Facilier *Jenifer Lewis as Mama Odie *Jim Cummings as Ray *Michael-Leon Wooley as Louis *Emeril Lagasse as Marlon *Kevin Michael Richardson as Ian *Peter Bartlet as Lawrence *John Goodman as Eli "Big Daddy" La Bouff *Oprah Winfrey as Eudora *Terrence Howard as James *Don Hall as Darnell *Ritchie Montgomery as Reggie *Paul Briggs as Two Fingers *Jerry Kernion as Mr. Henry Fenner *Corey Burton as Mr. Harvey Fenner *Randy Newman as Cousin Randy Production 'Early Development Disney had once announced that 2004's Home on the Range would be their last traditionally animated film. After the company's acquisition of Pixar in early 2006, Ed Catmull and John Lasseter, the new president and chief creative officer of Disney Animation Studios, reversed this decision and reinstated hand-drawn animation at the studio. Many animators who had either been laid off or had left the studio when the traditional animation units were dissolved in 2003 were located and re-hired for the project. Lasseter also brough back directors Ron Clements and John Musker, whose earlier works include The Great Mouse Detective, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules and Treasure Planet. The duo had left the company in 2005, but Lasseter requested their return to Disney to direct and write the film and had let them choose the style of animation (traditional or CGI) they wanted to use. The story for the film began development by merging two separate projects in development at Disney and Pixar at the time, both based around the "Frog Prince" fairytale. One of the projects was based on E. D. Baker's The Frog Princess, in which the story's heroine (Princess Emma) kisses a prince turned frog (Prince Eadric), only to become a frog herself. The Princess and the Frog returns to the musical film format used in many of the previously successful Disney animated films, with a style Musker and Clements declared, like with Aladdin and The Little Mermaid, had inspiration from Golden Age Disney features such as Cinderella. Musker and Clements thought that given all fairytales were set in Europe, they could do an American fairytale. They stated that they chose New Orleans as a tribute to the history of the city, for its "magical" qualities, and because it was Lasseter's favourite city. The directors spent ten days in Louisiana before starting to write the film. The Princess and the Frog was originally announced as The Frog Princess in July 2006, and early concepts and songs were presented to the public at the Walt Disney Company's annual shareholders' meetings in March 2007. These announcements drew criticism from African-American media outlets, due to elements of the Frog Princess story, characters, and settings considered distasteful. African-American critics disapproved of the original name for the heroine, "Maddy" due to its similarity to the derogatory term "mammy". Also protested were Maddy's original career as a chambermaid, the choice to have the black heroine's love interest be a non-black prince, which upset opponents of on-screen interracial romance, and the use of a black male voodoo witchdoctor as the film's villain. The Frog Princess title was also though by critics to be a slur on French people. Also questioned was the film's setting of New Orleans, which had been heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, resulting in the expulsion of a large number of mostly black residents. Critics claimed the choice of New Orleans as the setting for a Disney film with a black heroine was an affront to the Katrina victims' plight. In response to these early criticms, the film's title was changed in May 2007 from The Frog Princess to The Princess and the Frog. The name "Maddy" was changed to "Tiana", and the character's occupation was altered from chambermaid to waitress. Talk show host Oprah Winfrey was hired as a technical consultant for the film, leading to her taking a voice acting role in the film as Tiana's mother Eudora. 'Writing and Themes' The head of story, Don Hall, described the plot as a fairytale "twisted enough that it seems new and fresh", with a kingdom that is a modern city, a handsome prince that is a "knuckleheaded playboy" and a variation on the fairy godmother with Mama Odie. Co-writer Rob Edwards also said The Princess and the Frog was "a princess movie for people who don't like princess movies". As the writers thought Tiana's character motivation of simply dreaming of having her own restaurant was not appealing enough, they expanded so it was her father's as well, with the extra philosophy of "food bringing people together from all walks of life". Musker and Clements stated that while Tiana already starts as a sympathetic character, the events of the plot make her "understand things in a deeper level" and change people around her. Both protagonists would learn from each other, Naveen to take responsibilities, Tiana to enjoy life, as well as figuring from Ray's passion for Evangeline that the perfect balance is brought by having someone you love to share the experience. Tiana became the first African-American Disney Princess. 'Voice Cast' On December 1, 2006, a detailed casting call was announced for the film at the Manhattan Theatre Source forum. The casting call states the film as being an American fairytale musical set in New Orleans during the 1920s Jazz Age and provides a detailed list of the film's major characters. In February 2007, it was reported that Dreamgirls actresses Jennifer Hudson and Anika Noni Rose were top contenders for the voice of Tiana, and that Alicia Keys directly contacted Walt Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook about voicing the role. It was later reported that Tyra Banks was considered for the role as well. By April 2007, it was confirmed that Rose would be voicing Tiana. Three months later, it was reported that Keith David would be doing the voice of Dr. Facilier, the villain of the film. 'Animation and Design' Clements and Musker had agreed from very early on that the style they were aiming for was primarily that of Lady and the Tramp, a film which they and John Lasseter feel represents "the pinnacle of Disney's style". "After that, everything started becoming more stylised, like Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians, which are fantastic films as well, but there's a particular style (to Lady and the Tramp) that's so classically Disney." Lady and the Tramp also heavily informed the style of the New Orleans scenes, while Disney's Bambi served as the template for the bayou scenes. Bambi was described as a stylistic reference for the painted backgrounds, as according to art director Ian Gooding "Bambi painted what it feels like to be in the forest instead of the forest" so The Princess and the Frog would in turn try capturing the essence of roaming through New Orleans. The former trend in Disney's hand-drawn features where the characters and cinematography were influenced by a CGI-look has been abandoned. Andreas Deja, a veteran Disney animator who supervised the character of Mama Odie, says "I always thought that maybe we should distinguish ourselves to go back to what 2-D is good at, which is focusing on what the line can do rather than volume, which is a CG kind of thing. So we are doing less extravagant Treasure Plant kind of treatments. You have to create a world but (we're doing it more simply). What we're trying to do with Princess and the Frog is hook up with things that the old guys did earlier. It's not going to be graphic...". Deja also mentions that Lasseter was aiming for the Disney sculptural and dimensional look of the 1950s, "All those things that were non-graphic, which means go easy on the straight lines and have one volume flow into the other, an organic feel to the drawing." Lasseter also felt that traditional animation created more character believability. For example, with Louis the alligator, created by Eric Goldberg, Lasseter said, "It's the believability of this large character being able to move around quite like that." Choreographer Betsy Baytos was brought by the directors to lead a team of eccentric dancers that gave reference to make each character a different style of movement. The character design tried to create beautiful drawings through subtle shapes, particularly for most characters being human. For the frog versions of Tiana and Naveen, while the animators started with realistic designs, they eventually went for cutesy characters "removing all that is unappealing in frogs", similar to Pinocchio's Jiminy Cricket. Toon Boom Animation's Toon Boom Harmony software was used as the main software package for the production of the film, as the Computer Animation Production System (CAPS) system that Disney developed with Pixar in the 1980s for use on their previous traditionally animated films had become outdated. The Harmony software was augmented with a number of plug-ins to provide CAPS-like effects such as shading on cheeks and smoke effects. The reinstated traditional unit's first production, a 2007 Goofy cartoon short entitled How to Hook Up Your Home Theater, was partly animated without paper by using Harmony and Wacom Cintiq pressure-sensitive tablets. The character animators found some difficulty with this approach, and decided to use traditional paper and pencil drawings, which were then scanned into the computer systems, for The Princess and the Frog. The one exception to the new Toon Boom Harmony pipeline was the "Almost There" dream sequence, which utilised an Art Deco graphic style based on the art of Harlem Renaissance painter Aaron Douglas. Supervised by Eric Goldberg and designed by Sue Nichols, the "Almost There" sequence's character animation was done on paper without going through the clean-up animation department, and scanned directly into Photoshop. The artwork was then enhanced to affect the appearance of painted strokes and fills, and combined with backgrounds, using Adobe After Effects. The visual effects and backgrounds for the film were created digitally using Cintiq tablet displays. Marlon West, one of Disney's veteran animation visual effects supervisors, says about the production; "Those guys had this bright idea to bring back hand-drawn animation, but everything had to be started again from the ground up. One of the first things we did was focus on producing shorts, to help us re-introduce the 2-D pipeline. I worked as vfx supervisor on the Goofy short, How to Hook Up Your Home Theater. It was a real plus for the effects department, so we went paperless for The Princess and the Frog." The backgrounds were painted digitally using Adobe Photoshop, and many of the architectural elements were based upon 3-D models built in Autodesk Maya. Much of the clean-up animation, digital ink-and-paint, and compositing were outsourced to third-party companies in Orlando, Florida (Premise Entertainment), Toronto, Canada Yowza! /Yowza Digital Animation, and Brooklin, Sao Paulo, Brazil (HGN Producoes). 'Music' During Disney's 2007 shareholder meeting, Randy Newman and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band performed the film's opening number, "Down in New Orleans", with famous New Orleans singer Dr. John singing, while slides of pre-production art from the film played on a screen. Other songs in the film include "Almost There" (a solo for Tiana), "Dig a Little Deeper" (a song for Mama Odie), "When We're Human" (a song for Louis, Tiana and Naveen), "Friends on the Other Side" (a solo for Dr. Facilier), and "Gonna Take You There" and "Ma Belle Evangeline" (two solos for Ray). Newman composed, arranged, and conducted the music for the film, a mixture of jazz, zydeco, blues and gospel styles performed by the voice cast members for the respective characters while R&B singer-songwriter Ne-Yo wrote and performed the end title song "Never Knew I Needed", an R&B love song referring to the romance between the film's two main characters, Tiana and Naveen. Supported by a music video by Melina, "Never Knew I Needed" was issued to radio outlets as a commercial single from the Princess and the Frog soundtrack. The film's soundtrack album, The Princess and the Frog: Original Songs and Score, contains the ten original songs from the film and seven instrumental pieces. The soundtrack was released on November 23, 2009, the day before the limited release of the film in New York and Los Angeles. Release The film premiered in theaters with a limited run in New York and Los Angeles beginning on November 25, 2009, followed by wide release on December 11, 2009. The film was originally set for release on Christmas Day 2009, but its release date was changed due to a competing family film, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, scheduled for release the same day. 'Marketing' The Princess and the Frog was supported by a wide array of merchandise leading up to and following the film's release. Although Disney's main marketing push was not set to begin until November 2009, positive word-of-mouth promotion created demand for merchandise well in advance of the film. Princess Tiana costumes were selling out prior to Halloween 2009, and a gift set of Tiana-themed hair-care products from Carol's daughter sold out in seven hours on the company's website. Other planned merchandise includes a cookbook for children and even a wedding gown. Princess Tiana was also featured a few months before the release in the Disney on Ice: Let's Celebrate! show. The film itself was promoted through advertisements, including one from GEICO where Naveen, as a frog, converses with the company's gecko mascot. A live parade and show called Tiana's Showboat Jubilee! premiered on October 26, 2009 at the Magic Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, and on November 5 at Disneyland in California. In Disneyland, actors in New Orleans Square paraded to the Rivers of America and boarded the park's steamboat. From there, the cast, starring Princess Tiana, Prince Naveen, Louis the alligator, and Dr. Facilier, would sing songs from the movie, following a short storyline taking place after the events of the film. The Disneyland version's actors actually partook in singing, while the Walt Disney World rendition incorporated lip-syncing. Tiana's Showboat Jubilee! ran at both parks until January 3, 2010. At Disneyland Park, the show was replaced by a land-based event called Princess Tiana's Mardi Gras Celebration, which features Princess Tiana along with five of the original presentation's "Mardi Gras dancers" and the park's "Jamabalaya Jazz Band" as they perform songs from the movie. "Tiana's Mardi Gras Celebration" officially ended on October 3, 2010. However, it returned to Disneyland from 2011-2013 as part of the "Limited Time Magic" family-fun weekends. Tiana also appears in Disneyland Paris' New Generation Festival. Some of the characters appear frequently during World of Color, the nightly fountain and projection show presented at Disney California Adventure. Disney announced on June 4, 2009, that they would release a video game inspired by the film and it was released on November 2009 exclusively for Wii and Nintendo DS platforms. It has been officially described an "adventure through the exciting world of New Orleans in a family-oriented video game", featuring events from the film and challenges for Princess Tiana. 'Home Media' See Also: The Princess and the Frog (Video) The Princess and the Frog was released in North America on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on March 16, 2010. The film is available on DVD, Blu-ray Disc and Blu-ray Disc combo pack editions; the combo pack includes DVD and digital copies of the film, along with the Blu-ray Disc version. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in Australia on June 2, 2010, and on June 21, 2010, in the United Kingdom. As of December 2010 the DVD has sold 4,475,227 copies and has made $71,327,491 in DVD sales, making it the ninth-best selling DVD of 2010. Reception The financial and critical success of The Princess and the Frog persuaded Disney to green-light at least one new hand-drawn animated film to be released every two years. However, the blog/film noted in June 2014 with the release of hand-drawn concept art for the 2013 computer animated film Frozen, that any future hand-drawn animated films have been "killed" for the time being due to The Princess and the Frog failing "to ignite the box office". Two months later, however, many Disney artists announced they were working on a new independent hand drawn animated film, Hullabalo as part of an attempt to bring back hand-drawn animation. Despite such speculation, Walt Disney Animation Studios has continued to use both hand-drawn animation and computer animation in subsequent films. 'Box Office' On its limited day release, the film grossed $263,890 at two theaters and grossed $786,190 its opening weekend. On its opening day in wide release, the film grossed $7,020,000 at 3,434 theaters. It wemt on to gross $24,208,916 over the opening weekend averaging $7,050 per theater, ranking at #1 for the weekend, and making it the highest-grossing start to date for an animated movie in December, a record previously held by Beavis and Butt-Head Do America. The film went on to gross $104,400,899 (in the United States and Canada) and $267,045,765 (worldwide), making it a box office success, and became the fifth-highest grossing animated film of 2009. While the film did out-gross Disney's more recent hand-drawn films such as The Emperor's New Groove, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Treasure Planet, Brother Bear and Home on the Range, it was less auspicious than the animated films from Walt Disney Animation Studios' 1990s heyday. Disney animator Tom Sito compared the film's box office performance to that of The Great Mouse Detective, which was a step up from the theatrical run of the 1985 box office bomb The Black Cauldron. Looking back on the experience four years later, Catmull acknowledged that Disney had made a "serious mistake" in the process of marketing and releasing the film. The Walt Disney Studioss' marketing department had warned Disney Animation that the word "princess" in the title "would lead moviegoers to think that the film was for girls only," but the animation studio's management insisted on keeping the "princess" title because they truly believed that the film's excellent quality and beautiful hand-drawn animation would bring in all quadrants anyway. In Catmull's words, this belief "was our own version of a stupid pill." The marketing department turned out to be correct in their prediction that many moviegoers would and did avoid the film because they thought it was "for little girls only." This error was further compounded by the fact that the film opened five days before Avatar. Looking back seven years later, Lasseter told Variety "I was determined to bring back hand-drawn animation because I felt it was such a heritage of the Disney studio, and I love the art form... I was stunned that Princess didn't do better. We dug into it and did a lot of research and focus groups. It was viewed as old-fashioned by the audience." 'Critical Reception' The film received largely positive reviews from critics, praising the animation, characters, music and themes but criticising the plot and pacing. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 84% of 185 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 7.4 out of 10. The site's general consensus is that "The warmth of traditional Disney animation makes this occasionally lightweight fairytale update and lively and captivating confection for the holidays." Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 0-100 from film critics, has a rating score of 73 based on 29 reviews. Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an "A" grade and applauded the film's creative team for "upholding the great tradition of classic Disney animation". Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter praised Walt Disney Animation for "rediscovering its traditional hand-drawn animation" and for "a thing called story". David Germian of the Associated Press wrote that "The Princess and the Frog is not the second coming of Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King. It's just plain pleasant, an old-fashioned little charmer that's not straining to be the next glib animated compendium of pop-culture flotsam." Justin Chang of Variety was less receptive, stating "this long-anticipated throwback to a venerable house style never comes within kissing distance of the studio's former glory". Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News gave the film 3/5 stars while saying "The Princess and the Frog breaks the colour barrier for Disney princesses, but is a throwback to traditional animation and her story is a retread". Village Voice's Scott Foundas found that "the movie as a whole never approached the wit, cleverness, and storytelling brio of the studio's early-1990s animation renaissance (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King) or pretty much anything by Pixar". Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times gave the film a positive review claiming that "the dialogue is fresh-prince clever, the themes are ageless, the rhythms are riotous and the return to a primal animation style is beautifully executed." Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars and admired Disney's step back to traditional animation, writing, "No 3-D! No glasses! No extra ticket charge! No frantic frenzies of meaningless action! And... good gravy! A story! Characters! A plot! This is what classic animation once was like!", but stated that the film "inspires memories of Disney's Golden Age it doesn't quite live up to, as I've said, but it's spritely and high-spirited, and will allow kids to enjoy it without visually assaulting them." S. Jhoanna Robledo of Common Sense Media gave the film three out of five stars, writing, "First African-American Disney princess is a good role model". Saint Bryan of the NBC-TV Seattle praised the film and called it "The Best Disney Movie Since The Lion King". Upon its release, the film created controversy among some Christians over its use of Louisiana Voodoo as a plot device. Christianity Today's review of the film cited its sexual undertones and use of voodoo, arguing that the scenes with Dr. Facilier and his "friends on the other side" contain many horror elements and that young children might be frightened by the film. The film's treatment of Louisiana voodoo as a type of magic instead of a religion also drew criticism from non-Christian factions. 'Awards and Nominations' The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and twice for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, but lost to Up and Crazy Heart, respectively. It was also nominated for eight Annie Awards and, at the 37th Annie Awards Ceremony on February 6, 2010, won three. Category:The Princess and the Frog Category:Disney Princess Films Category:Films Category:Animated Films Category:2009 Films